Sarah's Pain
by Tygger3389
Summary: What if Sarah had something else, other than horses, that she had once been just as passionate about. Something she forced herself to give up, when she got herself and a close friend hurt. Now, six years latter, can she face the past. Will x Sarah.
1. Chapter 1 Freak out and a Photograph

Discalmer: I, Tiger, do not own Horseland or anyone in it, however i do own Bethany & Gace Whitney and Riley "Rocket" Anderson. And Sunset, my pony! you no have!

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_**Sarah's Pain**_

_**Chapter 1**_

When it came to competitions of any kind, Sarah Whitney had one reaction, the same every time. She'd start out cool and calm, no worries or stress, she was completely relaxed and then next thing you knew, she was wound so tight something as small as dropping your curry comb would make her snap. It was in one of these usually pre-competition freak-outs that Will found her that day, sitting in the hayloft crying bitterly about something no one else knew, the only difference that day was that there would be no competitions for the next month.

"Sarah?" Will asked in shock as he climbed the ladder to the hayloft, "What's wrong?"

"Will!" Sarah jumped and attempted to stuff something into her pocket while whipping tears from her cheeks, "It's, ah, nothing, I'm fine."

"Are you sure?" He asked frowning, "You've been really uptight all day."

"It's just..." She shook her head, "Nothing you should worry about."

He sat down beside her, "You know I'm here for you to talk to," He said putting his arm around her shoulders, "Sometimes it's good to tell people stuff, get it off your chest and out into the air."

She just shook her head, "No, not this. I've already tried that, this is something that it's best to forget, if only that were possible."

"Okay," Will said wishing she would tell him, "If you change your mind, come and find me."

"Thanks Will," She smiled, getting up and leaning back down to kiss his cheek.

He felt himself blush and he smiled nervously, "Wh... What was that for?"

She smiled back nervously, "For trying to help."

She turned away and left, but as she slipped down the ladder, something fell from her pocket. Will picked it up and was about to call her to give it back when he heard hoofs on the cement barn floor, he looked down over the side of the loft just in time to see Sarah and Scarlet fly out of the barn in a black and golden blond streak. Frowning, he turned over the square piece of paper that had fallen from Sarah's jacket pocket, ignoring the writing on the other side. It was a photograph, a photograph of a girl and a boy, much younger than the now sixteen year old Sarah. The boy and girl seemed to be wearing matching, sparkly, skin tight outfits and figure skates. they were both smiling happily, both carried the same look of posh pride and champion style and could have been twins. but on closer look, the girls hair was more golden, the boy's more sandy, the girl had familiar florescent blue eyes that Will couldn't quite put his finger on and the boy had very different dark geen eyes. He turned it back over and read the text on the back:

_To my dearest friend Silver,_

_I was planing on giving this picture to you for your eleventh birthday, but the doctors say I have little under an hour to live. I want you to keep this picture, along with the memories of all the wonderful times we had together. I know your crying now and it seems like it's all over, like you'll drown any minuet now. But we both know that's not the case, keep your head up Ice Princess, at least for me, keep treading water. I'm not sad or scared to go, if I could go back in time to the moment when I decided to give my life for yours, I wouldn't even hesitate for a second to do the whole thing over again. Remember, none of this was your fault, don't let it drag you down. For me, please keep flying. With all my heart, for the last time, good-bye._

_Your best friend and partner in crime, Riley "Rocket" Anderson._

Will flipped the photo back over and took another long, focused stare at the proud, smiling girl with the eyes he knew so well. And all of a sudden, right their, the face, the eyes, the hair, it all clicked, who ever these Silver and Rocket people were, the girl in the photo was a much younger version of Sarah!

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Sarah sat on the grassy hill, crying again, though she couldn't tell Will why, this was the anniversary of the worst day of her life. Six years ago that day she had caused the death of her best friend in the whole world. The feeling this day gave her was like nothing she'd ever felt before that day, like drowning on land, like no matter how hard she tried to breath she choked. Every year on this day she was pulled back into the pit of deprsion that she desperately tried to escape, but every year, his memory was there, hunting her down and pulling her back to the reality, it was her fault, she'd killed Riley "Rocket" Anderson. People used to say they were like twins, they were inseparable, that nothing could tear them apart, until she'd been stupid and now he was gone, forever, the memory of him burned into her mind, haunting her forever.

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Sorry, it's short and probubly confusing, but please Review!


	2. Chapter 2 Ice Princess

Disclaimer: I, Tiger, still do not own Horseland or anyone in it, however i do own Bethany & Grace Whitney and Riley "Rocket" Anderson. And Sunset, still my pretty pony! you no have!

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_**Sarah's Pain**_

_**Chapter 2  
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Will walked into the ranch house, picture still in his hand and walked to the room where all the others were eating lunch. He slid down into a seat next to Bailey and Alma, "Hey, have any of you noticed how weird Sarah's been acting?"

"You just noticed!?!" Molly asked from across the table, "She's been doing this on this day every year since before we knew her."

"Oh," He shook his head, "Who here knows anything about figure skating."

"Uh, Will?" Alma asked, "Are you feeling okay, Amigo?"

"Yeah," He said shrugging her question off, "I just wanted to know ask a question about it."

"I know lots about figure skating, Will," Chloe said fluttering her make up coated eye lashes, "What do you need to know?"

He ignored her flirtatious actions, "What can you tell me about Riley "Rocket" Anderson?"

"You want to know about **_THE_** Rocket Anderson!" Zoey squealed in excitement.

"He was one of the two youngest people to ever make it to the international finals!" Chloe explained excitedly, "He was the partner of the Silver Skater, no one ever knew her name, she kept it a secret, but there's a rumor going around that she's one of the Whitney's, you know, Sarah's family. But anyways, Silver and The Rocket only went to the internationals twice and only competed once. The first time, when they went and competed, they were both only nine _and _they won the gold trophy! They were skating history, no one that young had ever made it to the Internationale's before, or has since!"

"What happened to them?" Will asked with the dreadful feeling that he already knew how it ended.

"There was an accident, the second time they went to the international finals, they were warming up when part of the sound system fell from the roof onto the ice. Rocket saved Silver's life, he pushed her out of the way, but he was buried under the rubble. the dug him out and rushed the two to the nearest hospital. Silver escaped with only a shattered ankle, she was treated for shock, but The Rocket died the next day, an hour after regaining consciousness." She rambled off excitedly, "The Silver Skater disappeared that day, she gave up skating, blamed herself for what happened. No ones heard from her since. That was actually six years ago today. So, what brought this on anyways?"

"I found Sarah in the hayloft, crying," Will explained pulling the picture out from his pocket, "She rode of on Scarlet, but she dropped this on her way out," he showed them the picture of Sarah and the boy he asumed was Riley The Rocket, "The note on the back is really what caught my atention ."

"B... But!" Zoey sputtered, "That's Rocket and Silver, but that's also Sarah!"

"Man, I was sure she was a Whitney," Chloe said in shock, "I never guessed that she was Sarah!"

"Well it makes sence," Bailey said, "Sarah's sixteen, Silver was ten and that was six years ago. She gets upset on this day, the anaversery of his death and you said Silver blamed herself for what happened. They were getting ready for a competition, right, so that explains why she's always so strange when competitions come around. You see, the story fits! Sarah's a figure skater and isn't her sister, Beth, also a figure skater?"

"Or she was a figure skater," Will said, everyone looked at him questioningly, "Well think about it, if something like that had happened to you, would you get back on the ice. She did team skating, so she'd need a new partner, but who could replace someone she'd trusted more than herself. Imagin if a horse you'd raised, cared for and loved, died, would you want another horse? No, you'd want the one you lost. I think that's what Sarah must have been going through, except, she never let it go. She refused to get back out there, didn't want to face the ice without the one person she trusted to always be there for her." The group when silent, "I'm gonna go find her. Oh and guys, we sould probubly keep this to ourselves, for Sarah's sake."

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Sarah was still sitting under the same tree, on the same hill, crying over the same thing, when Will showed up.

"Hey," he said tying up Jimber and sitting down next to her, "you dropped this in the barn."

She gasped as he handed her back the photograph. She choked back a sob and brushed her hair out of her face to reavel streaks of make up on her cheeks, "I... I take it you know what this is."

"Yeah," He breathed, "I know what that is, I know who you were, I know what happened and I know why you're here. What I dont know is why you can't let it go."

"I can't let it go," She said reget present in her voice, "Because I can't forget him. What happened was my fault and I can't live with that."

"Sarah, there's no way you could have changed what happened. It wasn't your fault," He asured her, "It couldn't have been."

"It was my fault," Sarah sobbed, breaking down again and flinging herself into his arms, "If I hadn't been so excited," she wailed into his chest, "If I wasn't so stupid, so hyper, we wouldn't have been anywhere near that part of the ice when the sound system fell! But I had to be stupid and childish, I had to ad an extra spin into the routine just because it was fun, then I escaped with only a broken ankle and Riley lost everything. How could I get back on the ice without him, knowing I was the reason he was gone? How could I forget him?"

Will wrapped his arms tighter around her and breathed into her hair, "You couldn't have known what would happen, you were ten. No ones asking you to forget him, just to move on."

"I don't think I can!" She protested, "I don't know how!"

Will sighed, not believing what he was about to tell her, "Cowgirl, it's time to get off the horse and back on the ice."

She looked up at him, her eyes wide with fright, "I can't!"

"Don't worry," He laughed, brushing her floopy bangs away from her big blue eyes, "I'll be right their with you, we all will be."

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So if anyone's reading this, i'd really like to hear from you. I know this was a bit of an abrupt end to chapter 2, but i just thought this was a good spot to stop. What does everyone think of Sarah ice skating?


	3. Chapter 3 Back on Her Feet or The End

Sarah trembled with nerves as she laced up her skates, noting the slight similarity to the way her riding boots felt, though she once would have thought of it the other way around. No matter how hard she tried, she could never seem to get her left skate tight enough around her ankle brace. It was never a problem with her riding boots, they just slipped right over top, and her limp was almost unnoticeable unless you knew to watch for it, but there was no point in hidding it now. Sarah had never told anyone outside of her parents just how badly her ankle had been hurt, her doctor said it was a miricle that it held her weight even momentarily without the brace, she hadn't wanted her friends' pity. When she'd fallen, her tibia and fibula had been broken, fracturing her talus and tearing several ligaments in her lower leg and foot. She'd taken up horseback riding because she'd loved animals so much and it was one of the few activities she could still do on her leg. Skating on it was a risk, her mother had expressed great concern when she left the house, but she would take it slow.**  
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Stumbling onto the ice, she skated a few shakey laps, stoping everyonce and a while to reajust how her feet sat in the boots of her skates. She could feel the once familiar movements now causing her tight calf muscles to protest. She stopped in one of the penalty boxes to stretch and breath, releasing some of the nervous tention that knotted up her chest. She glanced up at the clatter of metal on wood as her friends clammared onto the ice. Compaired to what she was used to, they were clumsy skaters, but the sight of them gliding around the ice made her smile.

"Sarah!" Bailey enthoused as he spotted her in the box and her friends all headed in her direction.

"How are you?" Molly wondered, smiling at her blond friend.

Sarah paused, concidering how to answer, "I'm... I'm okay."

"You sure?" Will asked as she stepped out onto the ice, wobbling a little.

"Yeah," She smiled nervously. Her face morphed into an expression of surprise as her skates slipped out from under her and she landed firmly on her rear. She blinked in shock as her tail bone smarted, "Ow!"

"Sarah!" Will worried, giving her a hand up, "Are you okay?"

"I'm fine," she assured him, "That had to happen at some point, I'm glad I got it over with right now."

"You're sure you're okay?" Bailey frowned, "You fell pretty hard."

"I'm alright, I'm gonna have bit of a bruise, but that's fine."She nodded, patting him on the shoulder, then she stopped and thought about that, "Yeah, I think I'm going to be just fine."

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**The end. I know, lame, terrible ending, but I haven't posted a chapter in 3 years or so and I just need to finish this and get it out of the way. So that's it, there's no more on this. I'm sorry I inflicted this on the world. ~ Tygger3389**


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